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Cebu Pacific lifts fuel surcharge, PAL next

FUEL SURCHARGE REVOKED. No fuel surcharge shall be collected from tickets sold from January 8 onwards, the Civil Aeronautics Board warns. File photo by Agence France-Presse

MANILA, Philippines – Following the directive of the Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB), local carriers Philippine Airlines and Cebu Pacific agreed to remove fuel surcharge from their domestic and international ticket charges.

CAB issued Memorandum Circular No. 01 series of 2015 calling for the lifting of fuel surcharge on international and domestic flights effective Jan. 8.

The government would not hesitate to impose sanctions on domestic and foreign airlines that would continue to impose fuel surcharge on passengers, CAB executive director Carmelo Arcilla earlier warned.

All CAB-approved cargo fuel surcharge were also revoked, Arcilla added.

In a statement released Monday, January 12, the Lucio Tan-owned airline would comply with the directive issued by CAB disallowing the imposition of fuel surcharge on airline passengers, PAL president Jaime Bautista said.

"We have carried out the necessary procedural and system adjustments in view of this latest call from [the] government. Rest assured that PAL will always bear in mind the welfare of our customers and the traveling public," Bautista added.

PAL recently received a directive from the CAB to cease imposing fuel surcharges citing dropping oil prices in the world market.

Cebu Pacific vice president for corporate affairs Jorenz Tanada said the budget airline already removed fuel surcharge in airline tickets since January 9 in compliance with CAB’s directive.

Remove fuel surcharge

On December 22, CAB Issued Resolution No. 79 (BM 10-12-22-2014) lifting the authority of domestic and foreign airlines to impose fuel surcharge on domestic and international flights “with the substantial and continuous decrease of fuel prices in the world market.”

Airlines that would violate the regulation would face sanctions, including fines under Republic Act 776 or the act that reorganized the CAB, Arcilla said.

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Welcome to Rappler, a social news network where stories inspire community engagement and digitally fuelled actions for social change. Rappler comes from the root words "rap" (to discuss) + "ripple" (to make waves).